Established in 2006, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical perspectives and analysis of indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books, the school curriculum, popular culture, and society. Scroll down for links to book reviews, Native media, and more.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Wall Street Journal on Quileute Response to Twilight

Update, September 7, 2010: Just in case the article in the WSJ goes away, here's what it says:

To fans of Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" novels, members of the Quileute Nation are shape-shifting Native Americans-turned-werewolves who protect the forests of the Pacific Northwest from bloodsucking vampires. But the actual Quileute Nation, a group of 700-plus Native Americans, more than half living on a reservation in La Push, Wash., have little in common with their literary and Hollywood counterparts. While the real-life Quileute have long been interested in the wolf as an animal and mythical creature, their traditions are a far cry from those "Twi-hards" have in mind. To combat these misconceptions and capitalize on the success of Ms. Meyer's novels, the Quileute, in collaboration with the Seattle Art Museum, will present "Behind the Scenes: The Real Story of Quileute Wolves."

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If you want to read more on the ways that the Quileute's are portrayed in the series, look over to the right side of this page. Scroll up or down till you see the section labeled TWILIGHT SAGA. There you'll see several links to posts about the series.

First Peoples listed AICL as one of the Top Five Native Blogs and Podcast to follow. School Library Journal's Elizabeth Burns featured AICL as her Blog of the Day on July 2, 2007, and in 2007, the ALA's Association for Library Service to Children invited Debbie to write a blog post for their site.

American Indian? Or, Native American? There is no agreement among Native peoples. Both are used. It is best to be specific. Example: Instead of "Debbie Reese, a Native American," say "Debbie Reese, a Nambe Pueblo Indian woman."